Lane filtering ‘affects all motorists’

New lane-filtering laws may only apply to riders, but they require all road users to be aware of them, according to a leading road safety expert.

Russell White, who founded the award-winning Fatality Free Friday (*) concept, says that with any introduction of new laws, particularly those not applicable to all road users, there will be a period of adjustment.

“Just as the onus is on motorcyclists to practise these news laws in a safe manner, drivers, particularly of heavy vehicles, need to be acutely aware of watching for motorbike riders in previous off-limit areas of the road.”

(MotorbikeWriter believes it requires calm and a sense of road-sharing by all motorists for lane filtering to operate safely and help ease traffic congestion for the benefit of all road users.)

Lane-filtering laws began in NSW last year and in Queensland and the ACT this year with Victoria expected to introduce lane filtering in September. Several US states are considering lane-filtering laws, but currently it is only legal in California.

Russell says motorcycle riders make up only a small portion of road users, but have a significantly high representation in road-related fatalities and serious injuries.

Russell White

“In fact, motorcyclist fatalities accounted for approximately 18 per cent of deaths over the past decade, up 12 % from the previous 10 years,” he says, without pointing the finger of blame at motorcyclists.

“It would not be fair, and there is no evidence, to suggest motorcyclists are any more reckless than any other group of road users and therein lies some of the inherent risks for riders.”

He says that in this time of change to new lane-filtering rules, it’s important for all road users to promote the safe introduction of the laws.

“Agree or disagree with the lane-filtering laws, the successful implementation requires the combination of a conscious effort from all road users to be safe, clear and widespread education on law changes and supporting infrastructure such as clearly signed speed limits, road shoulders and school zones.”

Fatality Free Friday was introduced in 2007 and will be held on May 29 in 2015. The campaign aims to have a fatality free Friday and promote road safety awareness throughout the year. So far there have been 50,000 pledges for a Fatality Free Friday.

4 Comments

Don’t see what all the fuss is about ,it only legalises what a lot of
people where doing already, some riders will still not feel comfortable
doing it, I really don’t think there will be any noticeable difference
out there. I don’t think that many were getting booked anyway

All well and good to say. But all road users are still not aware of these new rules about bikes. And until the government launches a wide spread campaign over all forms of media to let all road users know of said changes we as riders must and always take that extra bit care for our own lives sake.

Hi Steve,
You’re absolutely right. We do need a comprehensive education campaign and in the meantime we have to take responsibility for our own safety.
We also have the duty to stick to the rules and not behave like idiots causing road rage and crashes or we could end up losing this hard-fought rule.
Cheers,
Mark